Take a Word - HATS

The beautiful flowered hat comes from a "new" painting by Vincent van Gogh.  I found the picture in my online news of the day.  Apparently, there is no signature to the painting but it has now been verified as a van Gogh.  I hope he will forgive my using it for my own purposes.  I made the background using the same picture, blended over a blue background with lines running through it.  The face should be well-known as she is used in different guises from time to time (my own work).

The faint white swirls are by CryztalRain at Deviant Scraps.

THE THREE MUSES - House Tag

Thanks to Ann for an interesting challenge.  My tag is a collage of mostly digital background papers cut to create a house (well, sort of).  The lady is from Marta van Eck and the man from Finecrafted Designs (Deviant Scrap).  The papers, flowers and ribbon by Irene Alexeeva and the darker background by Createwing Designs.

Take a Word Challenge - Angel/Angelic

I found my lovely pen drawing of angel on Google and made a brush/stamp of it in Photoshop Elements.  The background is by Lorie Davison (slightly coloured and altered) and the quote is by Mark Twain.

Sunday Postcard Art - Green

St Patrick's day has passed but a little bit (or a lot) of green never hurt anyone. The Irish fairy is my own work with background by Fiddlette (Catscrap).

Three Muses Challenge - One beautiful thing

I had to think long and hard about find one beautiful thing.  So many things are beautiful it's difficult to choose.  I decided on my local beach which is only a quarter of a mile away.  The photo was taken at sunset.  Here on the west coast of Australia the sun goes down into the sea,  The lady in swimsuit is from Tangie Baxter at Scrapbookgraphics.  I used the plug-in "Photo Essentials" to add texture, overlays and heightened colour and lighting to the picture giving it (I hope) a vintage look as in those old travel posters we see online. The frame also comes from Photo Essentials.  Our beaches are blinding white sand and crystal blue ocean.  At night, when it is quiet, I can hear the waves hitting the shore and I know I am very fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of the world.

Take a Word Challenge - GREEN

I hope everyone enjoys our green challenge this week.  I painted the Irish colleen and the backgrounds are by Lauren Bavin and Create Wings Designs.
For all those of you using Photoshop Elements, there is a great "plug-in" program called "Photo Essentials 4".  It works in conjunction with PSE and there are lots of actions and frames (as above) to make work more interesting.  I'm not connected with it in any way but I do enjoy having it on my computer.

Sunday Postcard Art - Birds of a Feather

Many thanks to Mandy and Donna for inviting me to be the guest host this week.  The birds were Googled and altered a little with overlays by Rosie Posie at Scrapbookgraphics.

Three Muses Challenge - Couples

I have no idea why I remember the lyrics of very old and very silly old songs but this one came to me when I saw that the gentleman appears to be serenading the lady with his ukulele.
The couple (coloured by Me) are from E-vint.com.  The background is by Createwings Designs.

Take a Word Challenge - MASCULINE

Those who know me also know my great uncle Paul (by marriage).  This is a genuine photo from a family album except I may have exaggerated the size of his head just a little.
The background is also my own work.

Sunday Postcard Art - Daffodil

Background by Irene Alexeeva, overlay by Lauren Bavin.  Daffodil lady by me.

Three Muses Challenge - Circus

The clown is an Ozstuffe Originale (painted in ArtRage).  The background and drum are from Tangie Baxter at SBG.

Take a Word Challenge - Mail

I enjoy creating old and stained envelopes.  This one is dedicated to Buffalo and a misspent childhood watching westerns at Saturday matinees.  Images Googled.  Background bits and pieces by Lorie Davison and postmark by Katie Pertiet.

Sunday Postcard Art - Birthstone

I have always thought of my birthstone as TURQUOISE but it seems there are two stones for December - BLUE TOPAZ and the alternative TURQUOISE.  AMBER TOPAZ is the birthstone for November.  Therefore, it seems that turquoise is acceptable as December's birthstone.

My birthstone is turquoise which probably explains my affinity with all shades of blue.  I painted the face.  The hat is from Maya and the background by Lorie Davison (both of Scrapbookgraphics).  The dress fabric and turquoise pieces were Googled.

Three Muses Challenge - In the Round

Thanks for the great challenge, Bev.  After a day of frustration, I finally managed to post this.  I have had to change from Explorer to Google Chrome and still have a lot to learn.  Lost all me favourites!!
The image is from E-vint.com, much coloured and overlaid.  The frame is from Lorie Davison.

Take a Word Challenge - Turquoise

Ballerinas seem to be featuring a lot in my work recently!!  The two dancers are from E-vint.com which is a great source of vintage photographs (I am not connected with the website in any way).  I have coloured the photos.  The background is by Lorie Davison of Scrapbookgraphics.

Three Muses Challenge - Outside the Frame (Birds)

The ballet dancer is from E.vint.com - coloured, overpainted with added tulle and sparkle.  Elements by Createwings Designs.

Take a Word Challenge - ATC (Old fashioned)

This collage was created in an ATC template which has been enlarged on the blog page. 

The beautiful images are from Art Creations Friday which sadly no longer exists.  They were softly coloured.

The background paper is by Lorie Davison and the word overlays and frame are by Lauren Bavin.

Three Muses Challenge - Torso Template

I couldn't resist creating two completely different takes on the torso challenge.
In the first black and white piece I used a template recommended by Ann (Taluula) and filled it with doodles (by SherrieJD at Scrapbookgraphics) and adding a face by me.  Mask, ribbons and beads by Irene Alexeeva at Scraporchard.  The second template was Googled and filled with our Mona (who really gets around) and overlays by Berna Datema (SBG).

Take a Word Challenge - Coffee

I enjoy a cup of coffee occasionally but have to admit that my first drink of choice is tea!  The two ladies come Flickr-free-to-use images.  The posters are from Google Images.

Three Muses Challenge - Musical Instruments

Who said silliness and musical instruments don't go together?

I used two images from Graphics Fairy, altered and added to.  The double bass was Googled, the floor was made from an Irene Alexeeva background and the music has been in my stash for a long time.